The Bird in the Tree
by Dancing-StarryEyedDemigod
Summary: The Games, as told from Rue's POV. First HG fiction, please be kind. Reviews and constructive criticism very appreciated.


First shot at Hunger Games fiction. I can already tell you my next one is going to be about, well, let's just say District 2. :)

Anyways, Here. I couldn't stop thinking about Catching Fire, which I finished a mere 4 hours ago. But I figured I'd try some smaller fiction before attacking the big stuff, like, oh, Katniss' POV. :P

Enjoy.

* * *

I shift my weight to my other foot. They haven't noticed me. Not once. I've been hiding up in this tree since the rich districts showed up, and not one person's seen me.

Not even the girl who was on fire, who's sitting right across from me, on a tree branch of a different tree.

You'd think Katniss would've noticed me by now, what with how she's been portrayed. An eleven. For someone who scored so high, you'd think her reflexes would be a little sharper.

There's a small flicker of hope in my stomach. With my stealth, I might actually be able to win this. I might be able to bring all that food and money to my mother, to my starving siblings.

Katniss is examining her hands, and I'm about to take off through the trees, when I notice something dangling above her head. It's a tracker jacker nest, I can tell by just one look. A vacant one resides by the fields where I've been working since I was 9. At least, we assume it's vacant. None of us have been crazy enough to actually test out the theory. With one sting, tracker jackers could send you into a fit of hallucinations that drive you insane, or they could simply kill you.

As much as I want to win, I don't want that to happen to Katniss. I sit, frozen, as I try to figure out a way to get her attention and warn her about the nest. Turns out I don't have to. While I was staring at Katniss, she was noticing me. Must have been my eyes.

Whatever the reason, I'm happy she's noticed me. She sits up a little, trying to figure out what I am. I see recognition flash across her face. There's no doubt that she now knows she's looking at the girl from district 11. I reach my hand out of the leaves and point at the nest. And then I turn and spring from the tree, completely silent. Katniss is smart enough to figure out what to do with the nest. I'm sure of it.

I reach a tree far, far away from Katniss and the other tributes and nestle myself between two of the thick braches. I pull my shoes off my feet and balance them next to me. Out come my extra socks. I cover my hands with them, curling up into a ball between the branches as the temperature quickly drops. I try to sleep.

A cannon wakes me after a while. A tribute is dead. Good. One less to track me down and hunt me like I'm an animal. The sky later announces that it was the girl from district 1. I vaguely wonder what killed her before closing my eyes and falling asleep.

-.-.-.-

The next day is harder. The pack of career tributes marches right under my tree, so I have to quickly abandon that area. They all look pretty beat-up, though, some covered in tracker jacker stings and some very bloody. I notice that two of the boys are gone: brutal Cato and not-so-brutal Peeta, the one who's in love with Katniss. After I'm clear of them, I search for hours for food, but there just isn't any kind of plant I can find from the confines of my tree. A cannon fires sometime during the afternoon, but I have no clue who it might be. There's nothing else to do, so as the sun dies down, I curl up in a tree and try to sleep some more.

I open my eyes when the anthem of Panem plays throughout the arena, and my eyes focus on the blinding image of the girl from district 4. I close my eyes and go back to sleep.

In the morning, I munch on some roots I dug up and travel through the trees to the lake. I intend to spy on the other tributes, but they're not doing much. They're just counting the supplies they have left and piling them up. They have tons of food and weapons, practically everything that was in the cornucopia when the Games began. I watch as they continue to stack up the supplies. There's the shy boy from 3. Cato and Clove, from 2. Another boy. The other two girls are dead, and there's no sign of Peeta. I travel back to my tree and go to sleep. There are no deaths that day.

The night after that is far easier than the others. Katniss and I form an alliance. I hate to admit it, but I like her. I start to trust her when she offers me burn medicine, then even more when she lets me have her food. We were just sitting, talking about our districts, when all of a sudden she asks me about how I sleep. I tell her about my socks.

Her eyes soften and sympathy plays on her features.

"You can share my sleeping bag if you want," she murmurs. "We'll both easily fit."

I want to jump up and hug my new friend- if I could even call her that. She's friendly as far as the Games go. There's not much you could hope for. I'm lucky to have made an alliance with such a compassionate creature.

That night we snuggle into the sleeping bag, and Katniss shares her secrets. Peeta really isn't in love with her, she prides me for knowing how to feed myself, and she plans to take down the career tributes. I find that it's easy to fall asleep next to her warm body. I've always been the oldest of my siblings, therefore never comforted, always the one who does the comforting. It feels nice to just lie down next to someone who isn't too tired from the day's work to talk, or someone who's too young to understand the sorrow and fatigue.

For the first time in my life, I feel safe.

-.-.-.-

I help Katniss with her plan to take out the career tributes' supplies. We set up fires that we can light to bait out the others, getting them away from the lake. We set traps and eat the kill. We make a plan. We come up with a rendezvous point and a signal. We bond. Become friends.

It all goes perfect. Too perfect, of course, just like everything else in the world. When things become too perfect, something always goes wrong.

I'd heard the explosions last night. I could see them too, because when it's pitch dark outside, a giant bomb going off is kind of hard to miss. I wake up the next morning, assume Katniss is safe, and start heading to the stream, our meeting point.

But I can't go very far. A boy, I think from district 1, has set up traps and is keeping watch in the direction I need to go. Once I notice this, I freeze. If I move too much or too loudly, he'll see me and probably kill me. And all around me are just traps, traps, and more traps, so there's no hope of escaping on the ground. I silently wonder where the boy learned to make so many different traps. I'd never seen him at that table during training.

Bottom line is, I'm stuck. Luckily, or unluckily, depending on how you look at it, I've sent out my signal with the mockingjays. Katniss knows I'm safe. For a time.

After hours of waiting patiently for the boy to leave, I decide to risk it. He's not leaving, and I need to go find Katniss. I jump from the tree and take off, not pausing for even a moment, not daring to glance behind me.

The boy doesn't seem to notice. I'm home free. I get closer to our rendezvous point, speed through a clearing, and all of a sudden, I'm on my side and suspended in the air. I scream, mostly because it startled me so badly. I'm confused for a moment, wondering what's going on. Then I see the ropes surrounding me, and I hear the rustle of someone running through the grass and leaves. I struggle to get out of the ropes, but the more I move, the more tangled I get. I know this is a trap. My time is fading, and fast.

"Katniss!" I scream. "Katniss!" Maybe she's close by. Maybe she can hear me.

"Rue!" I hear, barely audible. "Rue, I'm coming!" I hear another set of footsteps running. The boy from district 1 reaches me first. He tosses a knife at the net and cuts it down, but I'm still hopelessly tangled.

"Caught you," I hear the boy murmur, referring to my 'if they can't catch me, they can't kill me' comment during the interviews. Just as Katniss comes into view and I reach my hand through the net, saying her name, he launches a spear at me.

Katniss bursts into the clearing, whirls around and, faster than lightning, whips out her bow and an arrow and shoots the boy. He goes down, the arrow piercing his neck. As he pulls out the arrow and bleeds to death, Katniss shouts and rambles like a crazy person. I assure her that he was the only one around, and I have to say this multiple times.

She stumbles over to be and pushed the boy aside. She cuts the ropes and crouches in front of me. We exchange a knowing glance. I'm beyond help. I reach out and grab her hand, asking if she blew up the food.

"Every last bit," she says calmly. I make her promise to win. She says she's going to win for both of us.

A cannon fires. I clutch Katniss' hand tighter. I desperately want her to stay.

"Staying right here," she says. And then, before I can stop myself, I choke out the word, "sing."

Sing? Why do I want her to sing? I don't even know if she _can _sing. I think about it for a moment, and realize that all I need is something to hold on to, and I'm sure Katniss has a beautiful voice...

_Deep in the meadow, under the willow  
A bed of grass, a soft green pillow_

I think, in the back of my mind, about what it would've been like to be in a place like that, at a time like this. It sounds so peaceful.

_Lay down your head, and close your sleepy eyes  
And when again they open, the sun will rise_

Maybe that's what I wanted. Peace.

_Here it's safe, here it's warm  
Here the daisies guard you from every harm  
Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true  
Here is the place where I love you_

For a moment, everything becomes sharp and clear. My eyelids have closed, but I can smell everything perfectly, and hear every whisper of wind, every shallow breath Katniss takes in her song. And I know that, even though the odds aren't in her favor, she's going to win. I am absolutely positive. I feel like smiling, but for some reason, I can't move my mouth.

_Deep in the meadow, hidden far away  
A cloak of leaves, a moonbeam ray  
Forget your woes and let your troubles lay  
And when again it's morning, they'll wash away_

My muscles have given up and have decided to rebel against me. I have lost control of everything, forced to sit in silence as my breathing slows. Katniss' voice has lowered to a sound barely louder than a whisper.

_Here it's safe, here it's warm  
Here the daisies guard you from every harm_

A weight is lifted off my chest. I feel like I could fly. No, I am flying. I feel a breeze rustle my hair, like I'm a mockingjay, soaring above the trees and playing around in the sky.

_Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true  
Here is the place where I love you_

The last sensation I feel is the warmth of Katniss' tears landing on my cheek.

* * *

Rue is so hard not to love. I swear I'm sadder now than I was when I first read her part.

Like it? Mind telling me if you did?


End file.
